Lee, MHS boys face off as 2-5A's best two teams

Published 6:00 pm, Monday, January 12, 2009

By Lee Passmore

Sports Writer

The opening acts are out of the way, and the District 2-5A headliners will be on display at 7:30 p.m. today at Chaparral Center for the first of two can't-miss shows.

No. 15 Lee will face Midland High in a meeting of the district's top two boys basketball teams in the first of two district contests. The Rebels (15-4 overall, 7-0 in district) haven't lost a district game in their last 19 outings, while the Bulldogs (12-4, 6-1) have been their toughest competition during that span.

What's different about this year's first district meeting is the timing. Usually, the two teams have opened district play with each other before Christmas, but with the new 10-team district, all traditional notions of timing have been thrown out the window, as everybody now has seven district games under their belt.

That still leaves 11 to go, which might take away from tonight's sense of urgency, if not entertainment value.

"It's still real early in the district season and they are all key games, especially against a good team, and (the Bulldogs) are definitely one of the better teams," Lee coach Mark Coffman said.

Since the beginning of last year's district season (including a 58-51 win in the championship game of the Byron Johnston Holiday Classic on New Year's Eve), Lee has beaten Midland High three times, but the combined margin has been only 19 points.

But wins are wins, regardless of final margins. And that's been the bottom line for the Rebels, as they've won more often than just about anybody in West Texas the last two seasons.

"I think everybody uses Lee as a measuring stick," MHS second-year coach Trey Watts said. "They were undefeated in district and they have the league MVP coming back."

That would be junior Malcolm Miller, who won the award last year as a sophomore in the former District 3-5A. Being the top player in the district, though, means having to rise to another level when playing against a crosstown rival.

"We always think of (the Bulldogs) as our biggest rival so we look forward to playing them," Miller said. "I know they play their hardest when they play against us."

That competitive spirit was on display during the first meeting this season at Chaparral Center. Neither team held a double-digit margin lead at any time during the game.

Being in such close proximity as well as playing with and against each other in summer leagues, the two teams know each other quite well. So the first meeting of the season between them didn't uncover any great mysteries.

"It didn't make that much difference because we always play against each other whether it's in the YMCA or here at the Chap," said MHS senior center Davion Lewis, who led the Bulldogs with 18 points in that first meeting. "We've got to play better and stay out of foul trouble."

Fouls were a major factor in the first meeting, when Midland High's leading scorer, senior Kirklan Jackson, sat for almost half the game with foul trouble and eventually fouled out in the fourth quarter. The Rebels didn't lose any starters to fouls.

Watts feels his team hasn't always had the five best players on the court at the end of the game when it's counted.

"We've played (the Rebels) three times since I've been here and the last two times we've had three people foul out and two people foul out," Watts said. "We've got to keep them off the free-throw line by playing good, sound defense."

Both teams did that in their most recent games, as Midland High routed Odessa High 89-46 and Lee beat Permian 63-43. In each other, however, the Bulldogs and Rebels will find much tougher challenges this evening.

While it's still early in the district season, both teams will find out a lot more about each other (and themselves) at the end of the evening as far as what they need to work on to continue their runs to the postseason.

"I look at it one game at a time because that's how all the good teams do it," Lee senior guard Riley Coffman said. "(Midland High) has talented players on their team so you've got to look at them as someone who's a threat."

Who'll make good on that "threat" will come out with no worse than a share of the district lead.